¿A jealous God? ¿What does that mean?

Some people think that God is a jealous and ruthless being. Is this idea found in the Word of God? What does the Bible mean when it says that God is a " jealous God "? 

From our own experiences, we all know what jealousy is from a human point of view. Jealousy is commonly understood as resentment towards a person for having or enjoying something that we think should be ours. As described by Erica Jong , novelist, poet and essayist: "Jealousy is all the fun you think they had."

But is this the only type of jealousy spoken of in the Bible? What is the zeal according to God?

A man who tells us that he had the kind of zeal that God has is the Apostle Paul.

Paul's “zeal according to God”

Would you think of the great apostle Paul as someone who was jealous? But he says he felt them. Let's look at the context of his statement.

On his second evangelistic journey, he made a stop in the noisy city of Corinth. While living in that city, Paul knew first-hand the difficulties that the Christians living in Corinth had to face.

Corinth was a rich and multi-ethnic port city. Dock businesses brought with them languages, ethics, cultures, and religions from all parts of the known world; and it was a center of pagan worship. There were all the cults for the gods of Egypt, Rome and Greece.

The famous temple of Venus (also known as Aphrodite, the goddess of love) was said to have 1,000 "priestesses" or temple prostitutes. The city's reputation for rampant sexual immorality was known everywhere and inspired the Corinthian term meaning “to live like the Corinthians; it was to lead a life of promiscuity and debauchery ”(William Dwight Whitney , The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia : Dictionary ).    

It is not surprising that Paul had a special place in his heart for those who struggled to maintain their Christianity despite all the difficulties in Corinth. Even after leaving Corinth to continue their travels, the members of this city were often in their thoughts.

The two letters he wrote to the Corinthians show his deep love and concern for them - even to the point of correcting them and trying to protect them.

The dangers of sin and false teachers

Paul, in his second epistle to the church in Corinth, reminded them to beware of false prophets and not to believe their words. Then he wrote, “I wish you could tolerate me a little crazy! Yes, tolerate me. Because I jealous you with zeal for God; for I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a pure virgin to Christ ”(2 Corinthians 11: 1-2, emphasis added).   

The word "zeal" here is from the Greek zelos and may also be "intense positive interest in something - fervor - ardor, marked by a sense of dedication" as in 2 Corinthians 11: 2, or the word may also refer to " intense negative feelings toward another person's achievement or success, jealousy, envy ”as in 1 Corinthians 3: 3 (Frederick William Danker , Brief Greek- English Lexicon of the New Testament).   

Paul knew that the faithfulness of the Corinthians to the true God was threatened by the prevalence of sin in society and the influence of false teachers. He spoke to the members of Corinth as a father speaks to his daughter that he loves and wants to protect her, because he loved them in the same way. He was taking care of them. Dictionary.com defines the word jealousy as "vigilance in maintaining or protecting something."  

We all have a desire to care for and protect something or someone we care about by all possible means — to be jealous of them (not jealous of them). This was the kind of jealousy that Paul felt for the Corinthians, and that is the kind of jealousy that God feels for his own children as well.    

"A jealous God" misunderstood

Easily the jealousy of God can be misinterpreted when we see scriptures like that of Exodus 20: 5, which says in the context of the Second Commandment : “because I am the Eternal your God, strong, jealous, who visited the wickedness of the parents over the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. " 

This may sound like God punishes innocent people! But is that what you are really saying? This would instill terror rather than love in what we understand about who or what God is.  

This interpretation directly contradicts Ezekiel 18, which fully states that the father who sins will be solely responsible for himself and his son will not have to bear the spiritual consequences of his father's sin. But even so, if the sinner repents and “if he turns away from all his sins that he did, and I will keep all my statutes and do according to law and justice, he will certainly live; will not die. All the transgressions he committed will not be remembered; He will live in his righteousness ”(Ezekiel 18: 21-22). 

A loving father corrects his son when he does something wrong or insists on an activity that is dangerous, because parents want the best for their children. God does the same.

The context of Exodus 20 shows that God was concerned that his people would start worshiping idols and false gods, taking them away from the knowledge of the one true God and leading them to sin. The passage in Exodus 20 says that God will visit “the wickedness of the parents over the children up to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me [who continue in sin], and I show mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. ”(Verses 5-6).  

Although God does not punish future generations for the sins of his predecessors, there is a tendency to continue sin from one generation to the next, often until the next third or fourth generation.

For example, let us realize this connection in Leviticus 26:39: “And those who remain of you will decay in the lands of your enemies because of their iniquity; and for the iniquity of their parents they will decay with them ”. On many occasions, children follow the bad examples of the parents; that is the meaning of this statement.

The loving God of the Old Testament

People often think of "the God of the Old Testament" as a tyrant and unjust judge — suddenly as a God showing jealousy in a human way. But with a quick glance at a few scriptures that argument can be contested.

“The Eternal is in the midst of you, Mighty, he will save; he will rejoice over you with joy, he will remain silent with love, he will rejoice over you with songs ”(Zephaniah 3:17). 

"But you, Lord, merciful and gracious God, Slow to anger, and great in mercy and truth" (Psalms 86:15).

"Thus saith the Eternal: Let not the wise man praise himself in his wisdom, Nor let the mighty man praise himself in his courage, Nor the rich man praise himself in his riches. But let him who praises himself praise himself in this: in understanding and knowing me, that I am the Eternal, that I do mercy, judgment and justice on earth; for I want these things, says the Eternal "(Jeremiah 9: 23-24).  

The beautiful word mercy implies piety, kindness, grace, generosity, and forgiveness. Does this sound like a severe and angry God who has no love for you? He is not a jealous God in the same way that the human being is jealous in a selfish way.  

And from the New Testament

The goodness and love of God are exemplified throughout the New Testament. Jesus Christ tells us, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).  

The apostle Paul also wrote a lot about the love of God.

What made Paul keep ahead despite all the others did to him? He knew the love, mercy, and faithfulness of God, and he trusted God. Paul sums it up in his letter to the Christians living in Rome:

“Before, in all these things we are more than conquerors through the one who loved us. Therefore I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor the present, nor what is to come, nor high, nor deep, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord ”(Romans 8: 37-39).    

Grow to understand the love of God

As disciples of Jesus Christ, James and John were zealous and fervent for God. Even Christ called them "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17). But Jesus showed them that their heated jealousy was wrong. When a village in Samaria refused to receive Jesus, James and John angrily wanted to rain fire from heaven and destroy the entire city.

Jesus quickly corrected them for his angry and impetuous attitude: “You do not know what spirit you are from; for the Son of Man has not come to lose the souls of men, but to save them ”(Luke 9: 55-56). 

This wake-up call must have left a deep impression on Juan. The disciple known as the "son of thunder" later became the disciple of love. In the Gospel and the epistles that bear his name, we gain a good deal of knowledge of the nature of God's love.

As we begin to know God more deeply and understand his love, our natural reaction should be to love him the same way and learn to always put him first of all. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Even when we were sinners, God sent his son so that we could live. Romans 5: 8 says: "But God shows his love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

It is obvious that God does not want us to turn our backs on Him or trample on the sacrifice of "the son of God" (Hebrews 10:29). He is jealous of us for our own good — because He loves us.

John, the apostle of love, writing in his first epistle, shows us how the love of God begins to work in us, “In this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not burdensome ”(1 John 5: 2-3).  

This brings us back to what we are told in the Second Commandment, that God is a "jealous God" who shows "mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments." God knows that if we keep his commandments we will receive blessings and if we break them he will bring us pain, so apart from jealousy according to God - and love - He desires that we obey him.